FVO medal winners at the British Championships 2023

There was a mix of perennial winners and new faces on top of the podium as FVO athletes matched their 2022 performance by claiming four national titles at the British Championships at Cold Ash, Newbury.

Rona Molloy and Jason Inman made the ultimate step-up to top the podium in their classes, Jason winning M50 in 66.50 for his first title in over 30 years, while Rona's time of 60.04 in W55 represents her first-ever British title.

The British Championships have been a happy hunting ground for Will Hensman since he moved into the age-group classes, with eight podium places in nine years, and he secured another top spot with his first title since 2016 in M40L (78.59).

James Hammond, meanwhile, lifted his 4th championship from five outings, as he won M18E in 70.56, in a quicker time than anyone on the M20E class which shared the course.

There were silver medals for both Hannah Inman (W12A - 47.44) and Beccy Osborn (W50L - 73.35), in Beccy's case her best-ever performance at this level, while Lizzie Horsler scooped a fine silver medal in W20E (73.11) which may have caught the eye of the national junior team selectors.

Five more medals were gathered in the Short classes, as Brad Connor eliminated the last vestige of his past as an Interloper from his record, winning M50S in 78.11, while Mark Wood made his championship debut and collected the honour in M55S (59.00) two places ahead of Simon Hunt (66.50). A 2nd place for Lucy Hensman in W18L (81.40) and a 3rd for Kathy Marsden in W35S (134.48) completed a memorable day for the club.

There was freshness to the FVO lineup this year, with more than a quarter of them making their championship debut, and ten competitors established a new event PB, outwith the medal positions.